


The Shadows In Our Minds

by Mercy_Rhyne



Series: Of Shadows And Light [2]
Category: Sanders Sides
Genre: Angst, Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Really dark, maybe some confusion too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2018-12-30 18:51:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12115002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercy_Rhyne/pseuds/Mercy_Rhyne
Summary: When Roman unexpectedly returns from the Cursed Woods after his fight with the Shadow Sorcerer, things seem to be going back to the way they used to be. However, something seems off...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: angst, nightmares, fire, blood mention, death, decapitation, panic attack

After days of traveling, the trio finally arrived in front of the Royal Palace. With a relief, the three men brought their horses back to the stable and then, they entered the Palace. As soon as they stepped inside, chaos erupted at the sight of the three men. Personnel and friends came up to the trio, hugged them and told them how glad they were to see that they had all safely returned. Of course, they all wanted to know what had happened and the males answered all questions as well as they could. Not long after this, Roman managed to escape the crowd and walked to the throne room, where his parents were waiting for him.   
The king walked up to his son and hugged him tightly. Roman returned this hug, albeit stiffly, almost coldly.   
“I am proud of you, son,” the king told Roman. He smiled down at his son with a mix of pride and something that seemed to be pain, regret, maybe. Roman smiled in return and looked down.   
“Someone had to do it,” he said softly, looking up at his father again. The king nodded, but he quickly averted his eyes. Something about his attitude showed that he was overthinking something, it showed he was upset about something. But what could it be? Could it be -   
“We are glad you are safe, Roman,”  his mother said as she stepped forwards, embracing her son.   
“Yeah,” Roman replied, returning the hug, for the first time since he came back from the Cursed Woods, completely comfortable and willingly. “So am I.” 

After a long day of talking to people, and answering the same questions over and over again, Roman was finally able to retreat to his room. After he had announced that he wanted no one to disturb him, he walked into his room and sat down on his large bed. The light of the candles the illuminated the chamber flickered for a few moments as the prince’s hair grew more purple and his clothes changed back to his usual black ones. Roman - or Virgil, I should say - got up and carefully locked the door.   
“Now for plan B,” he muttered as he disappeared in the shadows around him.   
Not even one second later, Virgil found himself in the bedroom of the royal pair, who were just getting ready to sleep themselves. Virgil enhanced the shadows around him, hiding him from the royals. It felt like ages before they finally got in bed, and even longer before they fell asleep. Virgil waited a few more moments before concentrating his thoughts and all his powers on the sleeping king. In just a few seconds, the reality around him seemed to fade to black and another scenery took its place.

The king and queen were stood in a field full of colourful flowers, their arms wrapped around each other. It was nighttime, but the moonlight was bright enough to illuminate the field. Virgil watched them from a distance. He could see the royal pair, but they could not see him.   
The sorcerer knew what was going to happen; the king had told the tale of this ‘magical night’ more than a few times. And Virgil knew exactly how to make it even more magical. 

After just a while, the fireworks started. Right on time. But, instead of bursting out into the most beautiful and colourful shapes, the fireworks changed direction and flew in the direction of the royal couple, who scrambled to their feet as the fireworks hit around them. The sparks set the grass and flowers ablaze, igniting an enormous fire that quickly closed in around the two. Almost too quickly to be natural. The king looked around in a panic, hoping he’d see someone to help him out, and for a moment, he thought he saw a deep shade of purple in the darkness, but it faded away the moment he laid eyes on it.   
The flames caused a big pillar of smoke to rise up and soon, the entire field was covered in a grey blanket. And out of that thick smoke, a beast emerged, seemingly out of nowhere, as if it had spawned from the flames. Its grey fur resembled a wolf’s, but its body reminded one of a bear. A gigantic bear. Its eyes glowed a deep crimson as the beast let out a growl that would make a dragon cower in fear. Even standing on its four feet, the beast towered above the royal couple. The two royals were now standing next to each other in the middle of the ring of fire. Mysteriously, the fire seemed to have stopped spreading and it was now just a way to keep the two closed in. The queen looked at her husband in shock as the beast approached her. Neither of them had anything on them that could work as a weapon. Unless-

The queen fell to the floor, dodging one of the beast’s paws that was swung at her, and quickly undid the straps of her heels, taking the shoes in her hands. She rolled to the side to dodge another attack and tried to stab the beast with the heel of one of her shoes. She did manage to wound it, but it was only a small injury; it hardly even drew blood. The animal growled as it quickly pinned the queen down. The king awakened from his temporary state of paralysis and rushed to his wife’s side, picking up the shoes she had dropped. He clumsily managed to stab the footwear into his foe’s back. But, unlike he had hoped, this did not draw the beast’s attention to him. Instead, the animal only increased its pressure on its victims shoulders and its cries of pain mixed themselves with hers. Then, the beast decided it had had enough and with one quick move, it bent over and with nothing but its enormous maw, tore the queen’s head away from her body.   
The king wanted to run away, to scream, to cry, to fight back. But he was, again, paralyzed. The beast had dropped the queen’s head and had now turned his attention to its next prey. It slowly made its way to the king. It steadied itself on its hind paws and growled. And then -

The king woke up, panting and covered in beads of sweat. He looked to his side, to find his sleeping wife, still very much alive, and a sigh of relief escaped his mouth. He took a deep breath trying to calm down his wildly beating heart and his panicking mind. The dream had felt so real. So much more realistic than any other dream he had had before. And that purple colour he saw... no. It couldn’t have been him. It must have been something else. Besides, the colour faded after he saw it. Surely, it wasn’t real. Right?  
With a sigh, the king lay down and closed his eyes again. It was just a dream, he told himself. There was nothing to be scared of. It was just a dream.

When the king had woken up, Virgil had quickly faded out of the room to make sure he couldn’t be seen by the royal. Then, he made himself reappear in Roman’s large room. With a sinister smile, the sorcerer changed his appearance back to the prince’s and prepared for the night. For real. 

Early the next morning, Virgil made his way downstairs. He still recognised some of the hallways he used to love so much. It almost made him nostalgic. Almost. If only these beautiful hallways and the good memories weren’t infected and corrupted by one big event. If only the memories could remain as pure as they once were.  But life could not be that favourable to him. It never was.   
Soon enough, Virgil found himself standing in a dining hall that was virtually empty. It had been twenty years since he last saw the vast hall and it had never changed one bit. Even the candles on the large table stood where they always had. It was as if he had never left. And as he stood there, Patton entered the room behind him.   
“Roman?” Virgil heard a voice call out to him. “What are you looking at?”   
“Just... glad to be back,” he answered, not looking at the man next to him.   
“Yeah, it has been a while, hasn’t it?” Patton looked at Roman with a smile.  
“Too long.” 

An hour later, after they had had breakfast, Virgil found himself in the town of Darlea. The town he had ruined a little over two week prior. The civillians were doing their best to rebuild their homes and though they had made a lot of progress, they still had a long way to go. People ran up to their prince and thanked him for his effort, asked him about his battle against the Shadow Sorcerer or asked him for help in building up their lives again. Virgil put up a fake smile and answered their questions as well as he could for as long as the questions flooded in. As soon as the interrogation had ended, Virgil excused himself and he hurried off. He walked through the streets of Darlea. People came up to him every once in a while. And if they did, he would smile at them and listen to what they had to say. They told him about what they had to endure and about what they had lost in the fire. They told about what they had gone through in the past two weeks and how they were forced to live on the streets, not knowing they were actually talking to the perpetrator of all this. And as he listened to their stories, he... didn’t feel anything. You might have expected him to feel sorry for what he did, for everything he brought onto those innocent people. But, in reality, he didn’t feel bad at all. Sure, he knew that it wasn’t fun to live like they did; without a house, with barely any clothes and no money - he had experienced that firsthand. It just didn’t make him regret his actions. What was the point in feeling bad about it anyways? It had happened and there was nothing to be done about it. There was no point in grieving now.   

Patton had just made it back to the Royal Palace. He, along with Logan, Roman, the king and queen, had spent the day in Darlea. Just like before he, Logan and Roman had left for their quest, they had talked to the Darleans and helped them out where he could. It was nothing he hadn’t done before. That’s what made it so curious that he felt so drained today. He felt weak and his mind seemed to be all over the place.   
“Are you okay, Patton?” Logan asked carefully when they had reached the safety of the Palace. “You seem... absent.”  
“Yeah,” Patton said shakily, not fully convincing, “I guess I’m just... tired.”  
“Are you sure?” Roman inquired, “You seem... on edge, Pat.”  
“No... no I’m fine,” Patton breathed, managing a smile. “Trust me.”  
“If you say so,” Roman nodded. Patton smiled and quickly excused himself. He left the two behind and headed to his room. As soon as he knew they couldn’t see him, he fastened his pace. He wasn’t okay. He wasn’t fine. He was scared. He was panicking. And why? He didn’t know.   
Patton entered his room and slammed the door shut. He fell down on his soft mattress and clutched onto his pillow, as if that would ease his mind. His breathing became more and more rapid and more and more shallow.Tears burned in his eyes and they quickly rolled down his cheeks. He didn’t know why he was panicking so much, he didn’t know why he was so anxious or why his chest felt like it was going to explode. He had felt good all day, why did he feel so panicked all of a sudden?  
Patton couldn’t see it through the tears in his eyes and his blurry vision, but in the very corner of the room, there was an odd shadow present. It had a darker colour than the rest of the room, but the difference was so minimal, it was hard to notice. 

As time passed, Patton’s breathing seemed to be getting more irregular. He became dizzy and his ears started ringing. His heart started beating faster and faster, as if it was trying to find a way out of his ribcage. Patton was so scared. And of what? He couldn’t tell. All he knew, was that he was scared. Scared of failing, scared of losing control, scared of disappointing others. Scared of anything and scared of everything. Shaking hands reached up and covered his ears, as if that would drown out the voices of worry and fear he heard in his mind. He wanted it to stop. He wanted the panicked and anxious thoughts to stop flooding his brain. Where did they come from? Why wouldn’t they stop?

He sat there for what felt like hours. In reality, it was only several minutes until the shadow in the corner of the room left and peace immediately returned in Patton’s mind. It felt as if a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders and he could breathe freely again. After this, it took him a while to get his breathing back on track, but when he did, he slowly got up and walked to the bathroom to splash some water in his face. When he looked in the mirror, Patton saw his face was red and blotched. With a sigh, he rubbed the last tears out of his eyes and took a few sips of water. He stayed there until he looked presentable again. 

Dinner that night was... unusual. As always, the three members of the royal family dined together, along with Logan, Patton and some other important members of the staff. Patton didn’t speak; instead, he focussed all his attention on the plate in front of him. This in itself was weird, as Patton was usually the most cheerful and the most talkative person of the company. The king seemed to be absent, too. His mind was somewhere far, far away, And also Roman acted unlike his usual self. He was more quiet than usual. Darker, even. Most of the meal was spent in a silence that was only interrupted by the cutlery ticking against the plate. It was weird, unusual. There was an odd atmosphere in the room, as if something dark, something _bad_ was about to come, What they didn’t know, however, was that that something was already amongst them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: anxiety attack
> 
> Note: I'm not too happy with this chapter and this isn't too eventful, it's mostly just a filler chapter, but I promise the next chapter will be better!

Weeks have passed and every night, the kings dreams were plagued by nightmares, each one more horrifying than the last. It almost made him fear the night, fear sleep. It interfered with his daily life and affected his mental health. He barely slept and when he did sleep, he would be tortured by night terrors. It had to stop. 

And the king wasn’t the only one whose mental health seemed to be getting worse. Ever since that one faithful day, Patton started to have more and more panic attacks, seemingly out of nowhere, though he never showed anyone. Whenever he felt an attack coming up, he would quickly make up an excuse and lock himself in his room until he had calmed down again. His room was his little cave, the only place where he could safely break down. Outside, Patton was his usual, happy self. No one knew what was going on with him. 

After nearly four weeks, the king had had enough of it. He had tried anything to get rid of the nightmares. He had tried to go through all the positive events of that day before going to sleep. He tried meditation before going to bed. He did everything he knew, but nothing seemed to work. He had even tried some herbs that would allegedly stimulate good dreams, according to the land’s healers. They only made things worse, it seemed. The nightmares only grew more and more horrific. The queen advised her husband to ask help from a witch or druid. At first, he had refused, but after a month of torturous dreams, he had no other choice. So he sent out a message to the land’s greatest witches and druids to come to the palace at once to help him with his problems. 

In those four weeks, Virgil amused himself greatly by forcing nightmares and thoughts of horror and anxiety onto anyone who set foot in the palace, though his main focus was with the king and Patton for now. It was hard on him, though. He had to maintain the regal facade while also using his magic to intrude their minds and dreams. And even for a sorcerer as powerful as Virgil, that was hard. Transformation asked a lot of magic energy, especially when one had to keep it up for hours on end and when it was such an elaborate disguise as Virgil’s. And when you add the energy Virgil used when intruding the king's dreams and invading Patton's mind, you'll come to the conclusion that Virgil was severely drained at the end of the day. It was never so bad that it threatened his life, but it was the most severe drainage he had ever experienced. One upside to it was that it resulted in an amazing sleep at night; the best he had in almost twenty years. 

Just a couple of days after the king had sent out the messages to the wielders, a few druids and a witch had already reached the castle and they were immediately ordered to go to the throne room. Two guards were stood outside the door to ensure that no one disturbed their discussion. The three druids told the king about some potions and herbs that they thought might help him and the witch remembered they knew a few spells or a potion that they used to prevent nightmares themselves. Eagerly, the king agreed to listen to all their explanations and tales of their chosen weapons to battle his dreams and they stayed in that throne room for hours. 

Meanwhile, Roman had left for Darlea again, on his own this time, and Patton and Logan wandered around the palace together.  
"Patton," Logan started hesitantly after the two had walked in silence for a while. "Is something wrong with you? I noticed you have been more absent lately, and more quiet than you usually are. Is there something on your mind?"  
"No, I'm fine," Patton started, faking a reassuring smile, "there's nothing, I'm just... tired."  
"So you have been tired for five weeks?" Logan asked. "So tired that you act completely different from your usual self?"   
"Yeah." Patton didn't look at Logan as he responded. He knew what Logan was referring to and he understood it would be better to talk about it, but something inside of him stopped him. Something inside of him screamed to address the issue to Logan, but something else inside him seemed to oppose this idea, and that something was currently winning. 

Logan noticed that Patton’s behaviour was off. Of course, he had known this for a while, he just never found the time to talk about it. But also now, he could see something was bothering his friend. He noticed it from the way he looked down, from the way his hands toyed with the hem of his shirt and the way the corners of his mouth twitched upwards after he spoke. Something was bothering Patton, but he didn’t speak of it.  
“Well, alright,” Logan sighed. He knew Patton would not give in that easily. Not right now. “But if there’s something... you know you can talk to me, right?”  
“Of course,” Patton said, looking up at Logan with a weak smile. “If something’s wrong, you’re the first one I’ll go to.”   
“That’s all I ask.”

Later that night, when Logan had stepped inside his bedroom, a feeling of dread overcame him. He didn’t know where it came from, but it quickly took control of his mind and thoughts. It was the feeling that something was wrong, the feeling that something bad was going to happen. What was that something? He didn’t know. _Something_. 

As Logan prepared himself for the night, the feeling grew stronger. It was a tingling feeling in his stomach that grew heavier with every passing minute. A persistent voice in the back of his mind that grew louder and louder. It wasn’t really there, yet at the same time, it was there. It was nothing more than a nagging voice in his head, barely even noticed by his conscience, but it was there, in his subconsciousness.  

When Logan sat down on his bed and reached up to take off his glasses, that’s when he really felt it. That nagging voice that once was nothing more but a subconscious thought, now grew to a conscious thought. A thought that clouded his mind and made his chest hurt. He felt like he was losing control of the situation, of his thoughts and his feelings. His breathing became more rapid, mimicking his heartbeat. Logan grasped the blankets, hoping that it would calm him down somehow.  
If he hadn’t been so panicked, he knew it wouldn’t, but at this point, he couldn’t think straight. It felt like his head had been filled with cotton wool, or like he was under water, looking at the world above the surface. It was incredibly frustrating, to say the least. Normally, he could analyse any given situation, but now he could barely form a coherent sentence.   
Logan held on to the blanket as tight as he could, until his knuckles turned white and his fingernails dug into his skin. Somehow, this seemed to help him. It kept him in touch with reality and away from his thoughts. But no matter how hard he tried, no matter how steady he managed to get his breathing to be, his mind never calmed down. After a time that felt like hours, he suddenly calmed down again. It was like the troubling thoughts of failure and the pressure he felt on his shoulders and all kinds of horror scenarios had never plagued his mind at all. His breathing quickly evened out again and it was as if the past minutes had never happened. However, this little ‘breakdown’ had cost him a lot of energy and as soon as Logan had placed his glasses on the nightstand and had made himself comfortable in his large bed, he fell asleep. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the nightmares continuing, the king will have to find a slution to the problem. In the meantime, Logan and Patton have a talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Nightmare, gore, death, mention of burning, mention of freezing (people), mentions of anxiety and anxiety attacks

That next day, Logan went up to Patton, intending to talk to him about what happened the previous night. He hoped Patton knew what to do, as he was more in touch with his emotions than Logan was. So, as soon as he had finished his breakfast, Logan went to look for his friend. It took Logan just a few minutes of wandering through the palace before he laid eyes upon Patton and he jogged up to the man. 

“Hey, Logan,” Patton greeted cheerfully as Logan approached him. “You look upset. Something bothering you?”  
“Well,” Logan started, “there _is_ something I wanted to talk to you about...”  
“Then talk all you want,” Patton smiled, “I’ll listen.”  
“Can we talk somewhere else, though? I don’t want everyone to hear it.”  
“Of course!” Patton answered. He didn’t wait for Logan to say anything, but instead, he walked down the hall, gesturing to his friend to follow him. Logan didn’t hesitate, but immediately followed Patton. He followed him through multiple broad corridors to Patton’s bedroom.  
“We can talk here,”Patton reassured Logan as he opened the door for his friend. Logan nodded and walked inside. Patton’s room looked exactly like his own, though this one had warmer colours than his. Logan preferred light colours, cold but calming, while Patton liked the warm and darker colours better. 

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Patton asked as he closed the door behind him. Logan sat down on the bed and fell silent for a few moments, thinking of the best way to phrase his concerns.  
“Well, last night... something happened,” Logan said slowly, “and I don’t know what. I hoped you might know more about it.”  
This caught Patton off guard. Logan came to _him_ for help? Usually it was Patton who came up to Logan because he didn’t get something. This was... new.  
“Tell me all about it,” Patton answered with a smile. He noticed Logan had trouble with talking about it. Whether it was because he couldn’t find the right words or because he had trouble even _thinking_ about the subject, Patton didn’t know. Patton sat down next to Logan and awaited his response.

Logan took a deep breath and told his friend all about what he had experienced the night before. Every single detail he remembered. And with every word Logan spoke, Patton became more... excited. No, excited wasn’t the correct word. But Logan’s words made Patton see that he was not the only one who experienced whatever it was that he experienced. And while he didn’t want Logan to feel all the panic and fear - no one deserved that - he was glad to share it with someone. It made him see he wasn’t weird for feeling it.   
“Logan,” he started when Logan had finished talking, “I’ve got that too.”  
“You... do?” Logan asked incredulously.  
“Yeah, I’ve had that for a while now. I don’t know why it happens, but... I know it _happens_.”  
Logan nodded. It was a reassurance to know that Patton had the same experiences as he did and that even Patton didn’t know the source of this sudden anxiety. But at the same time, the fact that it even happened to Patton concerned him. He had never expected Patton to be anything but the happy, supportive, optimistic man he usually was. 

After a brief conversation, Logan had found out the anxiety started for Patton after they came back from their quest. Something told Logan it wasn’t right. Something was wrong. A soft voice in the back of his mind told him there was more to this than just anxiety and worries. Maybe they should go to someone else for help. Normally, Logan wasn’t too fond of this, he especially disliked going to druids, witches or sorcerers, which is what Patton had suggested. But he knew that they had the most experience. Druids and witches in particular were skilled healers and that might just be what they needed to help them with this. So he agreed with his friend’s idea and quickly left to find the magic wielders that roamed the palace. 

Not long after this, the wielders had gathered in the throne room again for another meeting with the king.  
“Your Majesty,” the youngest witch present said, taking a few steps forwards, “we have discussed the matter and we think there is only one explanation for this.”   
“What is it?” The king asked, eager to hear the explanation the wielders had come to. The witch looked back at their peers and then turned their eyes to the king again.   
“We believe it might be a curse.”   
“A curse you say? Why?” The king looked at the witch in front of him as they looked back at the small crowd behind them once more, seemingly looking for reassurance. Then, they focussed on the monarch again and they spoke:   
“Well, you said the nightmares started once your son returned from his quest to defeat the Shadow Sorcerer. And we have also heard from multiple of your staff members that they have experienced night terrors and extreme feelings of anxiety and panic ever since the prince came back,” the young witch explained, their fingers playing with their hair as they spoke, “so we have reason to believe that the Sorcerer cast one last spell before he died. A curse that your son carried with him and is now infecting the castle.”  
“My son is not cursed,” the king protested, “he was protected by an amulet.”   
“We heard the stories, your Majesty,” one of the druids helped, “but Fallar does not absorb all magic energy; it has a limit. We do not know how big the amulet was that the prince carried, but it would be a safe guess to say it was not big enough to absorb all the Sorcerer’s energy. You of all people should now how powerful he was. I don’t think any amulet would be able to take all that power away from him.”   
“But if it was a curse, why did it only take effect when Roman came back to the palace? Why hasn’t he suffered from its magic? Or Patton and Logan? I haven’t heard anything from them about issues like mine.”  
“Actually, they have been affected, too, Your Majesty,” the druid said, “we talked to them and they told us they have both been dealing with anxiety and panic to an extent they never experienced before.”  
The king sighed as he placed his hands on the armrests of his throne. He leaned forwards and furrowed his brows as he went over everything the wielders had disclosed to him.   
“Very well,” he grumbled eventually, “say, there is a curse, is there any way to get rid of it. Or is there even a way to find out if there is in fact a curse?”   
“I’m afraid the only way to find out is by taking out the host of the curse,” an elder witch said, stepping forwards as she spoke hesitantly.   
“Isn’t there any other way to find out if there is a curse and to counteract it?”   
“I’m afraid not,” the old witch replied, “the magic of the Shadow Sorcerer is too powerful for any of us. Even if we find out whether there _is_ a curse, the only way to get rid of it, would be getting rid of the host of the curse. Our magic can’t undo a spell cast by a sorcerer as powerful as the Shadow Sorcerer.”   
“I am not killing my son,” the king spoke softly, “I don’t care if it will mean the downfall of our kingdom, I cannot be the murderer of my own son.”   
The wielders protested at this, but the king would not listen. He had made up his mind. If he had to suffer through nightmares every day in order to keep his son alive, he would make that sacrifice. He could not bear to lose another child. He dismissed the party of wielders and when they were gone, he left himself, to find his wife and tell her about what he had heard. All that was left in the throne room, was a shadowy presence in the corner. 

So it was a curse, they said? It was a curse that had taken control of Roman and caused nightmares and anxiety to rule in the palace? That wasn’t a bad idea, he thought. He could have some fun with that. He only needed to adjust his plans a little bit, but that wasn’t a big deal. It could help him to keep the idea of a curse alive, so he might as well do it.   
So that night, when everyone was asleep, Virgil appeared in the bedroom of the royal pair again. But this time, he didn’t focus his energy on the king. Instead he focussed it on his wife - albeit slightly hesitant. In just a few seconds, the reality around him seemed to fade to black and another scenery took its place.

He was stood behind a big crowd in front of the Royal Palace. How convenient. The people all talked to their friends and family members while waiting for something to happen. This gave Virgil the opportunity to plan and prepare his next moves. Suddenly, the crowd burst into loud cheers and applause as the gates to the palace were opened. The royal couple stepped outside, smiling and waving at the people. But then, big, dark clouds moved in front of the sun, blocking out all its light and creating an artificial night. The cheers of joy turned into cries of fear and surprise. Out of nowhere, a wall of black smoke appeared, surrounding the crowd and the royal couple. It took away all their means of escaping from what was about to come.  
Several people reached out for the wall, but as soon as they touched the black substance, they felt their skin blistering and it both burned and stung with an icy cold. The crowd started to panic and everyone tried to get away from the black veil as fast as they could. This created an enormous chaos and in this chaos, people were pushed into the black smoke. Horrific screams filled the air as some people tried to get to safety and others met their horrible ends. 

A few moments later, when most people seemed to have calmed down and the screaming had died down, the earth started shaking and a ginormous snake-like creature emerged from the ground. Its skin was black and white, its one eye glowed a deep crimson. It was taller than most trees and everyone near the creature staggered backwards, causing chaos to erupt once more. The snake growled - very unsnake-like. As it bent towards the ground, revealing its large teeth, another snake sprouted in the middle of the crowd. Its size and appearance were the same and it was just as terrifying as the other. The two beasts ripped apart the entire crowd, limbs laying everywhere and the previously green field was covered in drops of red. When the entire crowd had been shredded to pieces, the snakes turned to the royal couple, who stood frozen on the steps to the palace. Slowly, the two beasts approached the couple. But just as they were right in front of them, as they opened their mouths and threatened to kill the royals, the dream ended. 

The queen opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. She felt her heart pounding in her chest and it took her a few minutes to calm down again. She knew it wasn’t real, but it felt so real. Almost too real to be just a dream. The queen looked at her husband, who was still sound asleep. He was fine. She knew it was just a dream. Nothing had happened, but her mind was occupied by the horrific scene she had witnessed just moments before that. But it was just a dream. With a deep sigh, she turned around and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to take over again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Panic attack, tiny bit of a nightmare, self-deprecation in a way

The next day, the king and queen discussed their options. Neither of them wanted to believe that the wielders were right. They did not want their only son to be cursed. They did not want it to be true and they did not want to kill him. But they understood that it might be their only choice.   
The royals asked their staff members about their experiences with the nightmares and anxiety and there were a few parallels between them. The anxiety always seemed to come out of nowhere, and always near the end of the day. The nightmares began like normal, good dreams, but they soon turned into the most gruesome of dreams. The fact that these resemblances were there, seemed to confirm the belief that there was, in fact, a curse. It could not be a coincidence. 

And so, after a long day, the royal couple had called Logan and Patton to their throne room for an urgent meeting. It was already dark outside and the night seemed to be seeping in through the windows, but that didn’t stop the four from discussing this issue. Everyone wanted this torment to be over, the sooner the better.  
The first half of the meeting was spent asking the two men about their personal experiences and their anxiety attacks. The king also brought up his son a few times to mention anything they noticed had changed about him. It all seemed to be going perfectly, until Patton heard a soft voice in the back of his head. At first, it was soft and Patton barely paid any attention to it. He listened to Logan talking and it easily drowned out the voice. But soon, it grew stronger. Patton realised it was a low voice that did not belong to him nor did it belong to anyone else in the palace. It was a deep voice that strongly resembled the Shadow Sorcerer’s.     
“Excuse me,” he said hoarsely, “but I... I need a moment.”   
“Patton,” Logan called softly as Patton turned around. “Is it...”  
“Yeah,” Patton nodded, turning his head to meet Logan’s eyes. “And no. Just... give me a moment.” He didn’t wait for a response and walked out of that room as soon as possible. He made his way to his bedroom, the only room where he knew he could break down without being judged, without being interrupted. As Patton walked through the halls, he was finally able to make out the words the voice uttered.   
“You should have never left the Palace,” it whispered, a hint of malicious amusement audible. “You could never defeat me. It was a mistake.” Patton shook his head, his hands shooting up to cover his ears, like he would shut out the voice like that. He quickly made his way to the safety of his bedroom and locked the door behind him. Finally, he was safe.   
“Did you really think you could outsmart me? It failed. Your plan _failed_.”   
“No,” Patton muttered softly, “no. That’s not true.” Patton felt a cold shiver running down his spine and he jumped on his bed, wrapping himself in the warm blankets.   
“It is true, you know that,” the Sorcerer’s voice replied, “your plan was to rescue the world from me. But did you succeed?”  
“It’s just the curse,” Patton said, more to himself than to the ‘Shadow Sorcerer’. “This is not real.”   
“Are you sure of that, Patton?” the voice asked. “You don’t know _what_ the curse was. It could have been anything. I could be in your mind this very second. I could be feeding on your energy this very moment. Gathering the energy I need to-”  
“No,” Patton interrupted, talking becoming more and more difficult as his breathing sped up again. “No it’s not true. You’re not. It’s not real.”   
“It is, Patton. You failed, admit it! There’s no shame in that. It’s not like anyone else would have succeeded. And besides, it wasn’t a bad attempt. It just wasn’t good enough.”  
Patton buried his face in his soft pillow, wishing for the voice to stop talking and just leave him alone. He softly heard a careful knock on his door and he smothered his breathing as much as he could.   
“Patton?” Logan’s voice called out to him. “Are you okay?”  
“Y-Yeah,” the man answered, his shaking voice giving away that he was not okay.  
“Do you need anything?” Logan asked, knowing that his friend was not well. Of course he wasn’t.   
“No, thanks.” Patton could still hear the voice of the Sorcerer in his mind. It wasn’t as loud as it was before, but he _knew_ it was there. He still heard it. “Just go back. I’ll be back in a few moments.”  
“Are you sure I cannot do anything?” Logan tried again.   
“Yes, I am. Just go back, okay?”   
“Fine,” Logan said hesitantly, “I will leave you alone then.”   
And with those words, Logan left. He turned back and walked through the corridors, back to the throne room. He was reluctant to leave his friend behind like that, but he knew there was nothing he could do when Patton refused his offers to help. And so he entered the throne room again. 

“He said he would be back soon,” Logan announced as soon as he entered, “but I am not sure what happened. He sounded more than upset.”   
“What do you think?” The queen asked him, leaning forwards a bit. “Is it really a curse?”   
“You know me, Your Majesty,” Logan replied, “I am not sure a curse would exist, but I must say, it does seem more and more plausible. If you asked me, I would say we wait for a while, see if it progresses any further and then we will see what to do about it.”  
“Very well,” the king nodded, “we will wait for Patton to come back and then we will discuss this.”  
It took Patton a while to return to the others and when he had heard Logan’s suggestion, he was eager to agree. He didn’t take any time to even consider it. And so the meeting quickly ended, leaving the four people alone to think about all this new information.

Over the next week, Patton started hearing this voice more frequently. And near the end of the week, he didn’t only hear it when he had a panic attack, but he could sometimes also hear it when he was doing okay. When he was having breakfast, when he had a conversation with his friends or when he was out, in Darlea or its surroundings. It drove him crazy. He knew he had to tell someone, for it was more than likely that it was, in fact, a curse. But he didn’t want to. He was scared that the others would judge him, that they would think he was crazy. And even though Patton knew they wouldn’t, the fear lingered. And so he hid it. He hid it, even though it drove him crazy, even though the voice distracted and hurt him. Even during his conversations, it got harder to concentrate on what his friends were saying.  
But, Patton noticed, he wasn’t alone. Roman seemed quite distracted, too. Maybe he was affected as well, Patton reasoned. Which would make sense, as the wielders had theorized he had been the host of the alleged curse. Of course he would be affected, And of course, Patton could ask the prince about it - the idea crossed his mind on multiple occasions - but again, something held him back. And so he didn’t. 

But what he _didn’t_ notice, was that he was not the only one who was bothered by the presence of the Sorcerer’s voice. Multiple nights in a row, he had had the same dream. He was located in a dark room; he could not see anything around him. There was nothing but darkness. And from that darkness, came a voice. It would utter phrases like: “It’s your fault”, “You started this” and “You created him.”  
He heard them over and over again. He heard them until he couldn’t take it anymore. He heard them until the words were implanted in his brain. Until he couldn’t hear them anymore. I seemed to never stop. Waking up was the only way he could be relieved of the voice droning on and on, but even then, the words echoed in his mind. Over and over and over again. 

And the worst thing was, he knew it was true. _It was his fault. He had started it._


	5. Chapter 5

A week had passed, and another had passed. And Logan noticed Patton’s mental state detoriating. Sure, his friend acted like the optimistic man he was, but Logan noticed his smiles didn’t reach his eyes like they used to. He noticed the way Patton forced his lips to form a perfect smile that everyone would accept as real. Anyone but Logan. He saw Patton was trying to appear happy, and he did a good job at it, but there were small signs that showed he was faking it. Signs that only an eye as observant as Logan’s could catch. And he worried about his friend.   
That’s why Logan approached Patton one afternoon. 

“Patton,” he started, rubbing his neck as he thought of the right way to voice his question and worries. “I... noticed you were acting different and I... wanted to know what... what’s going on.”   
“Nothing!” Patton answered with that fake smile of his. “Nothing but the usual, that is. There’s nothing for you to worry about, Logan!”   
“Well, you see, that’s the thing,” Logan said, dropping his hand, “I know there _is_ something to worry about. You might pretend to be happy and fine, Patton. But I know you. I know when you’re happy and I can see you’re not. Something is troubling you and I would like to know what it is. I might be able to help you.”  
“No, don’t... don’t worry,” Patton repeated, rubbing his forehead. “I can handle it.”   
“So you’re admitting something’s wrong,” Logan stated as he crossed his arms, studying his friend. “Patton, please tell me what’s wrong. You don’t have to do this alone, you know. I can’t promise I’ll be able to help, but -”  
“You’ll think I’m crazy,” Patton admitted with a humourless chuckle, “because it is. I don’t get it, Logan, and you will only judge me if I told you.”  
“I would never,” Logan answered, raising an eyebrow, “I only want to help you, Patton. I won’t think anything of you if you tell me what’s going on.”  
“I can hear his voice,” Patton blurted out. Logan raised his other eyebrow and looked at Patton in surprise.   
“You... hear his voice? What does that mean?”   
“I don’t know! I hear his voice. The Sorcerer’s voice. You know the meeting we had a while back? That’s the first time I heard it. I hear it when I have a panic attack, but sometimes, even when I don’t. Right now, I can’t, but... it drives me crazy, Logan! It won’t stop.”   
“Patton, you should have told me,” Logan said softly, “or anyone. We could have helped you.”   
“I know,” Patton muttered, “but I was scared of your reaction, and... it means there _is_ a curse doesn’t it? I don’t know, I just... I don’t want them to kill Roman. Even if it means the curse will persist. I already thought we’d lost him once. I... I don’t want to lose him for real.”  
“I know, Patton,” Logan nodded. He knew exactly what Patton felt. Of course he did; he felt the same thing. But he also knew that, if there was a curse on the palace, the only way to stop it from spreading, was by eliminating the host. Roman. “I know what you mean, but... if we don’t do it, the curse will spread. It could infect the entire land and that would give the Sorcerer more power than ever before.”    
“I know,” Patton nodded, looking down. “And I know it’s selfish to keep this for myself, just because it means I get to keep Roman around. It’s just hard, you know?”   
“I do,” Logan nodded. “But sometimes, to be a hero, you need to make sacrifices. Sometimes, doing the right thing means you’ll have to give up something else. Sometimes, saving the world means sacrificing one person. And would you rather save the world, giving up one life, or live the rest of your life, knowing you _could_ have saved everyone, but didn’t, because you couldn’t let go of one person? It’s not an easy choice, Patton, but life can’t always be easy. Sometimes, doing the right thing, means doing the worst thing. What would you rather choose?”   
Patton looked at Logan, considering his options. He knew Logan was right. He couldn’t let Roman live if it meant the entire land would suffer the consequences. But it was hard. It was hard to make the choice to allow one of his best friends to get killed. Because of him. But eventually, he took a deep breath and said:  
“We need to tell the king.” 

And they weren’t the only one who needed to talk to the monarch. His wife was craving a conversation with him as well. Because that night, she had had a curious dream. She was stood on the balcony outside her room, looking at the starry sky above her. But then, the quiet night was disturbed by the sound of footsteps. The queen turned her head and looked at the ground below. Vaguely, she could see a dark shade of purple in the darkness. A shade she would recognise anywhere.   
“Virgil?” She called out, leaning forwards to look at the man below her. It had to be him, she knew it. It had to be him. The man looked up, his brown eyes shimmering with a startlement that faded away after a brief moment. A vague smile pulled the corners of his lip up before that, too, faded quickly.   
”Hey mom,” he responded softly, “good to see you again.” With those words, he faded away in the shadows.   
The queen smiled as she looked at the place where the sorcerer had stood. Oh sweet Heavens. She missed him. 

And the queen told her husband about what she had dreamed. She didn’t know whether it was an ordinary dream her mind had created, or a dream that resulted from the alleged curse. Curse or not, she felt like the king had the right to hear about this. So she told him.   
“Are you... certain it was him?” the king asked when his wife had finished the tale.   
“I would recognise that hair colour anywhere,” the queen responded. “Don’t tell me you’ve seen anyone with that shade of purple?”   
The king looked at his wife and shook his head. Of course he hadn’t. No one in the land had a colour that unnatural. Of course the queen couldn’t have been mistaken. He just didn’t want it to be true. He didn’t want it to be reality. He didn’t want this to be happening.  
   
But their conversation was interrupted by Logan and Patton carefully entering the room.   
“Pardon me,” Logan spoke softly, “are we interrupting anything? There is an urgent matter we would like to discuss with you.”  
“No, I think we are about done, aren’t we?” the queen asked her husband. She looked at the king, who still seemed dazed from the information his wife shared with him. The monarch returned the woman’s gaze and nodded.   
“Splendid,” Logan said as he turned to his friend next to him. Patton met Logan’s eyes and smiled nervously. He really didn’t want to tell anyone about it. He was too scared. Sure, Patton knew it was the best thing to do, he knew the royals deserved to know, but he was scared for their reaction. And he understood that this confirmed the existence of a curse. That meant they _had_ to kill Roman. And he would do anything to save the prince, but he knew he couldn’t. He had to do this.   
“Patton, are you sure you want to go on with this?” Logan asked, noticing Patton’s hesitance.   
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Patton answered, rubbing his arm. “Thanks for asking, but I can manage this.” Logan nodded and let Patton talk, keeping an eye on his friend to make sure he was okay as he told the royal couple about the voice he had been hearing. 

As he was talking, the two monarchs shared a few glances every once in a while. They knew this wasn’t a good sign at all. Hearing voices - the Shadow Sorcerer’s voice in particular - was never a good sign. And especially considering everything that had happened in the past few months... they knew this had to mean one thing: a curse rested upon the palace.   
Of course the king knew there was a curse. He, too, had heard Virgil’s voice in his dreams. He hadn’t told anyone about this, though. He didn’t think it was worth it. At least, that was what he told himself. In reality, the true reason he told no one about his experience was that he didn’t want to kill his son.   
But now Logan and Patton had come to him with their news... he couldn’t deny it anymore. There was a curse and it was spreading. And to stop this curse, they had to do the one thing he feared the most. They had to kill Roman. 

And that’s why, the next day, Roman was summoned to the throne room. When the princd stepped into the large hall, he was faced with his parents and his two friends.   
“What is going on?” the prince asked, as he noticed the earnest looks on their faces. Even Patton looked serious. Roman clasped his hands behind his back and smiled uncomfortably as he straightened his back. “I was told there was an urgent meeting. What has happened?”   
“Roman,” the king said as he slowly approached his only son, “there is no easy way to tell you this, but... you know what has been happening lately, do you not? The nightmares, the anxiety, the panic that has been taking over the castle. You have heard of this, have you not?”   
“Of course, I have,” Roman nodded, looking at his father, maintaining an awkward smile.   
“We have had frequent meetings with the best magic wielders of the land,” - the prince looked at the floor as repressed memories plagued his mind - “and they suggested that... there might be a curse on this palace. A curse that V- the Shadow Sorcerer created, just before he died. A curse he placed on you. And the wielders said there was one way to get rid of that curse.”   
“I see,” Roman nodded. He focussed his eyes on the floor, barely containing a victorious smile.   
“It’s for the best,” the queen stood by her husband. “We do not want to do this, but..”  
“I understand,” Roman answered, his voice laced with an odd tone, “you believe that if you do not take me out, the curse will only develop and it will plague the entire land. I get it. But... is there- is there no other way to stop the curse?”   
“I’m afraid not,” the queen said softly, “the wielders said there was no way they could undo a curse as powerful as this. You know the Shadow Sorcerer is powerful. No one can counter his spells with magic. I’m sorry, sweetie.”   
“No, I... I get it,” Roman said, “it is what is best for our people. It would be unfair to put them in peril like this, I would have done the same thing. I understand. Can I just... have one moment with my father?”   
The three people quickly agreed and left, but not before hugging Roman tightly. Then, they quietly stepped out of the room, leaving the prince alone with his dad.   
"Roman, what is this?” the king asked as his son slowly approached, after having made sure no one was around. “What did you want to discuss?”  
“I want to say something, but first... I think I should make something clear.” His voice sounded odd, it was so much lower than his usual voice. Nothing like the prince’s voice. Roman stopped in front of the king and looked at him with a smirk. The shadows around him grew darker and darker, almost concealing him from the monarch. But as the shadows faded away, the king did not see his son anymore. Instead, he saw a young man with deep purple hair, dressed in black and bearing a smug smirk.   
“I’m not Roman.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Swearing, major character death, suffocation

“Virgil?” the king asked incredulously as he looked at the young sorcerer in front of him.   
“Surprise,” Virgil grinned with a smirk, spreading his arms as his eyes met the monarch’s.   
“You... you are alive?” The king stared at the man in front of him. Part of him wanted to run towards Virgil and to wrap his arms around him. To embrace him and never let go of him ever again. But the king knew that Virgil was a dangerous sorcerer and everything but pleased. It would not be a good idea.   
It was then that the king realised: the man he had believed to be his own son, had been the sorcerer all this time. There was no curse, but instead, the Sorcerer himself had been the reason behind the darkness that seemed to be consuming the palace.   
“So.... my dreams-”   
“That was all me,” Virgil replied, “every single bad dream and anxious thought came from me. Of course it was me.”  
“Virgil, I thought you were dead!” the king exclaimed. Even though he knew Virgil was the reason that many innocent people have lost their homes, their family or their own lives, he was relieved the man was still alive. Even after everything Virgil had done, the king still cared for him.   
“Oh come on,” the Shadow Sorcerer said, “you didn’t _seriously_ think Roman could defeat me, did you?”   
“I-”  
“After all,” he continued, not acknowleding the king’s attempts to speak as he took a few steps closer to said monarch. “I believe it was your idea to train me, like a _fucking weapon_. I believe it was you who told the wielders that, with me in the military, no one would have to worry about hostile invasions anymore. If I recall correctly, it was just you wanted to raise me like a fucking PUPPET.”   
With every word, his voice grew louder and the king noticed a cloud of shadows had formed around the sorcerer. His lips twitched and formed a smirk that practically radiated anger. The king knew this wasn’t good.   
“Virgil,” he tried, “trust me, it was never like that-”  
“No, I understand.” the young sorcerer scowled, his hands clasped behind his back again. “You only wanted what was best for me, didn’t you? You only did what you did because you loved me, right? Well, I have one question for you: how did you think that it would be good for a five years old to learn how to defend himself in a _damn war_? Did it never occur to you it would have been better for him to explore his powers? To develop himself? Have you _ever_ stopped to consider my feelings before you decided to put strings on me and make me yours to dictate? Did it never occur to you that what you wanted, that what you believed was best, was only what you wanted? Were you so blinded by protecting yourself and your country? Was that all you could think about? Did my feelings not matter to you?”  
"We wanted to protect you.” the king tried, locking eyes with the man in front of him. “We wanted you to learn how to control your powers to protect you from yourself.”

The shadows in the room grew bigger and darker as Virgil chuckled softly, pacing through the hall. The shadows clinged to him and seemed to follow him as he moved through the room.   
“Of course,” Virgil said, his voice low and full of malice as the memories from his youth came back to him. “ _That_ is why you took me in. _That_ is why you let the best magic wielders of the land come here to train me. _That_ is why you trained me how to fight. That’s why you learned a kid how to use his power to take out his enemies. What kind of person would think that was any good? It wasn’t good for anyone but _you_. It only benefited _you_! so don’t try to tell me you did what you did because you cared about me, because I know that’s not true.”   
“We wanted to give you the opportunity to develop yourself and your powers,”  the king answered trying his best to convince Virgil. He was not going to deny what he did; he knew there was no point in that. It had happened, that was definetely true. But he never had any ill intentions he just... didn’t think about the consequences his actions would have on the kid. Virgil was right, he was blinded by the child’s immense powers and he did things that he shouldn’t have. The king made mistakes, a lot of them. But if he could go back in time, he would have done so many things differently. He would change it all. Virgil deserved so much more than what he got. But the king never did what he did out of ill will.   
“I would have done fine without your meddling!” Virgil yelled as he stopped his pacing. His voice was distorted by his magic. For a few moments, the shadows turned pitch black and they quickly drifted towards the king. “You took me away from my home, from my life! You ripped me away from my family!  Away from everything I knew! Do you know how it feels to be torn away from your house, from your village? Do you know how terrified I was? You never told me anything until we reached the palace. I couldn’t even say goodbye to my parents! If it wasn’t for you, I would have been just fine! I never got the chance to explore my powers for myself, I never got to experiment! You took that from me. You took my _childhood_ from me!”  
“That is not true,” the king tried again, “we-”  
“No, no it is true!” Virgil interrupted the king once more. His voice was less distorted than it had been before and the shadows faded slightly, but they still remained. “Sure, I might have had the chance to play, to be a kid. But what's that when there's one other kid to play with, and that one kid doesn't even remember that you fucking existed? Like you never happened? No one here even cared about me. The staff greeted me when they passed me, the wielders praised me for my progress in training. _You_ , you called me your son. Every. Single. Day. But no one, absolutely no one, ever loved me. All you saw was my power, my potential. No one stopped to appreciate me for me, no one saw the child crying out for help inside. I was nothing more than a decoration to Roman, to all of you. A weapon, at most. Because what kid knows how to attack and defeat people before their _eighth birthday_? What kid has to learn how to kill people when they’re _seven years old_? That isn’t a childhood. That is the _military_. You wanted to turn me into a weapon, to use at your will. But that’s not what a kid is supposed to be! That isn’t how a kid is supposed to grow up!” Near the end of the sentence, the shadows had grown darker again and the distortion had returned. His brown eyes were filled with nothing but fury and rage. 

As the king looked into those eyes, as he heard the words Virgil spat at him, he felt guilt. He felt pain, like a dagger was forced into his heart. The king did love Virgil. He did see him as a son. Even now, twenty years later, after everything that had happened, the king still saw Virgil as his son. And the fact that Virgil actually thought he didn’t love him, that hurt him. So much. Because even now, the king loved him. He had never stopped, no matter how many people Virgil had killed. For no matter how many crimes someone might commit, sometimes, it’s hard to let go of them.     
“Virgil, trust me,” the king pleaded, “that was never our intention. We truly only wanted the best for you!”  
“If that was what you thought was best, then why didn’t Roman have to train like that? Why could he sit around, play outside, do whatever he wanted, while I was _forced_ to train, to exercise? I used to think that it was the normal thing to do, that he would start training as soon as he turned five. But it never happened. As long as I was here, he never had to train like me. Why didn’t you make him do the same? Was it because, unlike me, he could never be a threat to your kingdom? If you really thought that what you did was best, then why, in Heavens name, did Roman not have to go through that?”  
“Roman is different,” the kind said, realising he would not be able to justify this to Virgil. “He does not possess magic, so-”  
“That’s why he didn’t have to learn to fight until he was old enough? I had to learn to fight from my fifth birthday. And don’t tell me that’s because I possess magic. I overheard your conversation with Onye. You only wanted me as a weapon. I was a tool for you, not a son with potential.”  
This caught the king off guard. Onye was one of the wielders who trained Virgil, and the monarch would have frequent meetings with him discussing Virgil’s progress in training. But he never knew Virgil had overheard them. That would explain his statements, the king realised. That would explain his behaviour and his thoughts that the king never cared about him.  
“What are you talking about?” he asked, hoping that Virgil would explain it to him.   
“It’s as I said,” Virgil responded manner-of-factly as he started pacing through the room again, his eyes never meeting with the king’s. “I overheard one of your conversations. I believe you told him that I was learning well and that I would be a great addition to the army. That with me, you’d never have to worry about losing a battle ever again.”    
The king remembered that meeting. Not well, but vaguely. He had talked to Onye about Virgil and they had discussed whether or not the kid would eventually be fit for the miltary. It was not long before -   
“Virgil,” he muttered softly, “is that why you ran away?”  
Virgil responded with a bitter chuckle as he raised his head to look at the king. His eyes did not only show rage, but now there was something there that looked like derision. Maybe even pain.   
“Did you think I would want to stay in a place where people only wanted me for my power?” Virgil asked mockingly as he stopped dead in his tracks again. The monarch thought he even heard a bit of pain in the sorcerer’s voice.   
“We were worried about you!” the king exclaimed, keeping an eye on the shadows that were still spreading. “After you vanished, I sent all my soldiers out to search for you. We even posted posters around the kingdom to tell citizens to keep an eye out for you!”  
“Do you think I didn’t notice?” Virgil responded. His voice remained cold, but still calm. However, the shadows grew darker very quickly, giving away how much rage the sorcerer felt as the memories of his childhood came back to him. “When I left, I went back to Mauta, hoping I could see my family again, only to see the village had been flooded by soldiers. They were stood in front of my old house, like guards, looking out for me. It didn’t feel like you wanted your son back. You wanted your weapon, your _prisoner_ back. My village wasn’t safe for me. So I hid, waiting for the soldiers to leave. The only safe place were the damned woods. And I waited there until they left. But they didn’t leave. They remained there for _weeks_ and I gave up trying to ever go home. I had to live from wares I’d stolen from people in the village until I knew enough magic to conjure up my own food. I had to sleep on the cold floor of a cave with nothing to protect me from the cold until I learned how to create a blanket or mattress. All because you never thought it was of any importance for me to learn how to use my magic to take care of myself. It was fine, as long as I knew how to fight, right? I have lived in those woods for _twenty years_ because I had nowhere else to go.”  
“Virgil I didn’t know...”  
“You know, I thought that you did what you did because you cared. I thought you helped me because you wanted to give me a chance to develop my powers.  But apparently that was not the case. You only did that because you needed my powers for your own fucking army. If you had minded your own business, or if you treated me like an actual _son_ , we wouldn’t be here. The whole Shadow Sorcerer wouldn’t exist.”  
“Virgil, trust me,” the king finally got out, “I did truly care about you. You were like a son to me. You still are! I never wanted that to happen to you. I never wanted you to get hurt like ths.”  
“But it did,” Virgil snapped, the shadows that followed him now cloaked the entire room in near darkness. “It happened. And now we’re here. All because you wanted to do ‘good’ And where did that get you? What did you gain? Nothing. Instead, you lost. Everything.”  
Those words hit the king. Hard. He had lost. All this time, he had thought that his son had returned after his quest to the south, but it appeared to be Virgil. And his son had not returned. That meant that-   
“Roman,” the king muttered softly, realising what this meant. “You killed my son.”  
“No,” Virgil said, again with that bitter chuckle of his. “ _You_ killed him. You created me. Created _this_ ,” - he gestured to himself and the shadows around him - “You made this happen. And now it’s time you pay for those mistakes.”

The last sentence had been incredibly distorted by the sorcerer’s magic and the shadows made the room nearly pitch black. Virgil slowly approached the king in front of him with a dangerous smirk. The king tried to speak, but he felt like his throat was being squeezed shut by an outside force. No sound could leave his mouth, but at the same time, no air could enter his system. He tried to get one more glance of the man he considered his son before he blacked out. 

As he saw the king’s body go limp, Virgil stepped closer, to ensure the monarch was really dead, before easing up on him. The shadows slowly faded as the sorcerer was finally able to find his peace. Finally, he had gotten that was he really wanted. Revenge. Or at least, the first bit of revenge. After twenty years, he had finally gotten the revenge he craved. With a smirk, he disappeared in the shadows, and the king’s corpse with him. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Slight gore, mentions of blood, major character death, suffocating

The next morning, as the queen woke up, she immediately noticed something was off. Even as she was alone in her room, she could feel the tension in the air. Her husband was already up; she reasoned he had woken up before her to take care of whatever issue occupied the palace. The queen had not seen him before she fell asleep, his conversation with Roman must have taken up a lot of his time.   
She left her bedroom, still half asleep and she was on her way to the dining hall when two staff members walked up to her.   
“Your Majesty,” the first of the two said worriedly as they came to a stop in front of her, “please... there- there is something that you... might want to see.” The panicked tone in their voice and  worried the queen. It was clear that something serious had happened. Something _bad_. 

“What is it?” The two staff members exchanged a few questioning looks and after a few short moments, the first one slowly nodded.  
“It... it’s the king,” she slowly started, “he...”  
“What is it?” the queen interrupted suddenly, her worries getting the better of her. “Where is he?”  
“Outside,” the staff members replied hesitantly, “but-” They never got to finish their sentence, because the queen had already hurried towards the front gate to find her husband. She stepped outside in the cold morning air, forgetting about the fact she was still dressed in her dressing gown. 

But as soon as the royal stepped outside, she could see something she’d wished she hadn’t. Vaguely, she could see the back of her husbands head, towering above their gate, his feet dangling almost a foot above the ground. And next to him... _Roman_. 

She noticed the trail of blood that had formed on the back of their clothes. Most of it had already turned brown; that meant that they had hung there for at least a few hours. As soon as she saw this, the queen turned back and she prepared to go inside again, but she was stopped by someone calling out to her. She turned around and watched as one of the staff members who had been trying to take down the corpses jogged up to her, clutching a scrap of paper in his hand.   
“Your Majesty, you might want to take a look at this,” he said as he held out the paper to her. “We found this one the prince’s body. I... I am so sorry, Your Majesty.” The queen hesitantly accepted the paper and read the phrase that was written on it:

_You didn’t honestly think he could defeat me, did you?_

Her heart stopped as she read this sentence. This could only have been written by one person.   
“Virgil,” she muttered as she absentmindedly handed the paper to the man in front of her. “I... I have to go.” With those words and a quick apology, she hurried back inside. 

"Logan?” Patton softly knocked on the door to his friend’s room, hoping he was awake. “Logan, are you there?” His voice was trembling and his hands were shaking as he waited for Logan to answer - hopefully. And indeed, after a few knocks, Patton heard a shuffling coming from the room in front of him and the door swung open. Logan was stood in front of Patton, squinting at his friend. Patton feared he might have woken him up, but he couldn’t think about that now. He was too upset and honestly, he needed someone to talk to right now.   
“Patton, what-” Logan’s question was interrupted by Patton engulfing him in a thight hug.   
“Did you hear what happened?” Patton asked as he suppressed a sob.   
“Patton, I _just_ woke up,” Logan commented, overwhelmed by this sudden embrace.   
“Roman,” Patton sniffled, “and- and the king, they... they’re _dead_ , Logan.”  
“What?” Logan froze as he heard this. He couldn’t believe it. Surely, it wasn’t true... right? “What happened, Patton?”  
Logan led Patton inside and sat him down on his bed. He sat down next to his friend and kept one arm wrapped around his shoulder. 

“I... I don’t know,” Patton said softly. He told Logan all he did know; everything the staff had told him. He told where they had found the bodies - and how - about the note and what it said. And as he talked, the shadows around them gradually turned darker and darker, but neither of the two males noticed this.   
“Wait,” Logan interrupted suddenly, “what did the note say? ‘You didn’t think he could defeat me, did you?’ was that it?”   
Patton nodded and immediately, Logan’s mind conncected the facts to form a conclusion. It was then that he noticed the growing shadows and he knew this wasn’t good. 

“Patton,” Logan spoke rapidly as he got up, grabbing his friend’s hands to pull him up, “we need to get out of here.”   
“What are you- what are you talking about?”  
“I can explain later,” Logan nearly stumbled over his words as he quickly moved to the door, pulling Patton along with him. As soon as he reached the door, Logan put his hand on the doorknob. But no matter how much he tried to open the door, it wouldn’t budge.   
“It can’t be,” Logan muttered, “we’re too late.”  
“Too late?” Patton asked softly. “Logan, what are you-”

“Always the smart one, aren’t you Logan?” a distorted voice interrupted Patton. “But I’m surprised it took you this long to find out. I never thought you, of all people, would believe in a curse.”  
“That would be a more plausible solution than someone we believed was dead being alive, pretending to be our friend and inflicting all this torment on us,” Logan told the shadows, looking around for any sign of the sorcerer he was talking to. He couldn’t see Virgil and it frustrated him.   
“Lo, what... what is going on?” Patton asked softly, still holding onto his friend’s hand.   
“You killed Roman in the Woods, didn’t you?” Logan questioned, ignoring his friend’s question. “You were him all along.”  
“You got it.” The vague shape of a man appeared in the shadows as he spoke. “It took my old man a lot more time to realise that.”   
“Virgil,” Logan tried, “I don’t know wh-”

“ _Who told you my name_?” The shadowy figure blended in with the darkening shadows again. His distorted voice was loud and it seemed to be coming from behind Logan, making the latter flinch away. “ _How do you know my name_?”  
“I-I... the king and queen told me about you,” Logan replied, startled by the loud voice that tormented his eardrums. The shadows seemed to cling to him, to hold on to me in order to keep him in place. Patton tightened his grip on Logan’s hand and let out a soft whimper. He had no idea what was going on and honestly, he just wanted it to end. 

“Who else knows?” Virgil’s voice demanded loudly.   
“I... I don’t think anyone else does.”  
Virgil didn’t respond, but the shadows seemed to back up a little. Surely, that was a good sign.   
“What are you doing, Virgil?” Logan asked, trying to stall for time. “Why?”  
“You don’t have to know,” the sorcerer’s voice answered as his silhouette appeared in front of the two men. “You don’t _deserve_ to know.”  
“What did we do?” Logan slowly moved closer to the door as he tried to get an answer out of the sorcerer.   
“ _You_ didn’t do anything,” Virgil sighed as he stepped closer to Logan and Patton. His voice was still distorted by his magic, though it wasn’t as extreme anymore. “But _I_ need to do this. Say hi to Roman for me, will you? If he still remembers me.”

With those final words, Virgil’s silhoutte seemed to disappear in the darkness again and the shadows closed in around the two men. 

Logan was the first to fall to his knees as he desperately tried to take in oxygen. His hands reached for his throat, as if he hoped that would aid him. 

Patton was next. He had released Logan’s hand from his grip and his already shallow breathing became more and more troubled. But soon, he collapsed too, his body resting on Logan’s. Virgil nodded and disappeared in the shadows, never looking back and the two bodies on the floor.  

Meanwhile, the queen hurried through the Palace, occasionally calling the name of her lost son, hoping he would hear her. She kept searcing for him, but she didn’t find him. However, this did not mean she lost hope.   
After a while, she realised she had to get dressed and talk to the citizens about... what had happened. So she picked out her most appropriate dress - a long, black gown with dark red details - and went out to Darlea. Dozens of distressed people came up to her, offering their condolences and asking about what happened. Any time someone asked her this, the queen would hesitate and answer that she didn’t know. She reckoned it would be best to keep them in the dark about what was going on. At least until they knew everything. 

And that night, when the queen entered her bedroom, she was confronted with the fact that she was alone now. It was only now that the realisation hit her. She was alone. Her husband and son were no more. She was alone. She stared at the bed in front of her and sighed. 

“Sorry about him,” a voice disturbed her thoughts. The queen whipped around to be faced with one of the two men she had called her sons. Her heart seemed to speed up, yet at the same time, it completely stopped.  
“Virgil,” she breathed as the two locked eyes. Despite everything he had done, a smile appeared on her gorgeous face. “Virgil, oh sweet Heavens. I never thought I’d see you again.”  
She knew he was a murderer. She knew he had killed her husband and her son, but she hadn’t seen this man in twenty years and she loved him, even after he murdered so many people.   
So she stepped forwards. And she embraced him. 

“I know I should be mad at you for everything you’ve done,” she whispered as she wrapped her arms around him, “but I’m too happy to see you again.”  
Virgil smiled as he returned the hug. He closed his eyes and sighed. He had missed this so much. But he couldn’t do this. Not now.   
“Listen... mom,” he said, slowly pulling away, “I... you know I’m here for a reason, don’t you?”  
“I never thought you were here to talk,” she admitted, looking at the floor. “But I’m... happy you’re okay, Virgil. Even after everything you have done. It’s... good to see you. I... I don’t know why you left but.. I missed you, Virgil.”  
“I missed you too,” the sorcerer nodded. He closed his eyes and took a breath. He couldn’t use sentiment. Not now. “But listen... you can get out, okay? If you just... leave the land. And don’t come back.”  
“No,” the queen said confidently. This caught Virgil off guard for a few moments.   
“Wait... what?”  
“Virgil, I love you but... I don’t want to leave my country alone. I don’t want to survive if it means I will never see my husband or... sons again. I would rather die than live like that, Virgil.”  
“I see,” Virgil nodded. He didn’t want this. It was his intention to sneak in here, do what he had to do and get out. He didn’t mean for this to happen. “Are you... _sure_?”  
“I am, Virgil. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t be able to live like this. If I had to move, live somewhere without my family... I wouldn’t survive that.”  
“I get it.” Virgil said. He didn’t want to do this. He really didn’t want to. But he had to. If he really wanted to finish what he started... he had no other choice. He slowly wrapped his arms around his mother for the last time.   
“I love you,” he muttered softly.   
“I love you too,” the queen answered as she closed her eyes and rested her head against her son’s chest.   
“I... I’ll make it quick,” Virgil promised as he let go of the queen. She nodded and stepped back. The royal had the chance to shoot one last smile at Virgil before her world turned dark. She could just feel her knees buckling before her entire world went numb. 

Virgil smiled back just before she fell backwards. As soon as it was done, he quickly disappeared in a cloud of shadows, darker than ever before. Back to the Woods. 


	8. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Some angst and feelings but... I think that’s it.

As soon as Virgil was surrounded by the familiar trees of his forest - the Cursed Woods, as people had started to call them - he could breathe again. The forest grew ten times darker than it usually was and even Virgil was struggling to distinguish the trees from the shadows around.  
He was overcome by an unfamiliar feeling. He felt rage, anger, but there was something there that he couldn’t quite place. It was a feeling he had repressed, so many years ago. It would only hinder him in his training, they told him. He could not use any of those feelings. They needed to be pushed aside.  
It was guilt. For years, he was told to push away the remorse he felt. He couldn’t feel any guilt in the battlefield, they told him. There was no time for feelings like that in a war. And if those feelings hindered his fighting, then they had to be repressed. Anything to optimize his fighting skills. Anything to reach their goal. 

It was their fault. It was _their fault_ that he was like this. They had made him like this. It was only fair they paid for it. They were the ones that had wanted to train him and to turn him into a zombie-like weapon. It was their fault. 

Virgil punched the tree closest to him with a frustrated yell. Why did they have to mess him up like this? Honestly, he had never really minded it. Sure, he was furious at the king and the wielders for forcing him to train, for putting him through everything they put him through. He had always plotted a revenge, but he had never minded what he felt - or what he didn’t feel. But something in the past months had changed and he saw there was more than what he was.  
He had felt reluctance to kill the queen. For the first time since the whole Shadow Sorcerer thing started, ten years ago, he felt reluctant to kill someone. He even felt regret. He hadn’t wanted to kill the queen; she hadn’t done anything wrong. _She_ was the one who tried to make sure he rested enough, that he had time to relax and play outside. _She_ was the only one who seemed to take care of him. 

Virgil had meant to kill her swiftly before leaving without a trace, but she had seemed so heartbroken that evening. She had just realised she was all alone. Seeing her like that cracked his cool façade. Deep inside of him, there was the kid who longed to talk to the woman he had called his mother. And that kid’s heart broke when he saw the queen as sad as she was. So he decided to talk to her.  
But then, she turned around and she... she _hugged_ him. She said she was happy to see him, that she _missed_ him.  
And that’s when Virgil decided to spare her. He could spare her, if she agreed to leave everything behind. But she didn’t, and... oh sweet Heavens.  
He had to kill her. He _had_ to. He knew this, but that didn’t make up for what he’d done. 

Why did he feel like this? Why did he feel this guilty about killing _her_? Sure, she was important to him, but wasnâ€™t the king important to him when he was younger? Didn’t he care about Roman when he was a kid? Why didn’t he feel anything about killing him? Or the hundreds - probably even thousands - of innocent people whose lives he took? He felt nothing but apathy when he thought about them and yet, he couldn’t think of the queen without feeling a weird pain in his chest. 

The sorcerer teleported himself to the cave where he still slept - even after twenty years. It was easier to stay there than to create a whole new house, after all. He searched through the books he possessed. All of them were books about magic. All of them had been stolen from the nearby villages. Virgil wasn't proud of that, but without any money, that was the only way he could obtain them. That was how he learned all he knew about magic. Surely, one of these books must have a solution to his problems. 

 

The Cursed Woods had never been particularly welcoming, but tonight, it seemed to be even worse than usual. Clouds darker than the night loomed above and occasionally, a bright flash would be seen, followed by a loud clap of thunder. Whatever forces had controlled that forest, no one knew, but they saw something was wrong. Something was going to happen and they needed to be aware of that. They needed to be careful.   
All night, the thunder continued. Just before the sun was to rise, it stopped. Just as suddenly as it had begun.

And when the sun rose, the people of Darlea had to endure one other shock. Next to the corpses of the king and prince - no one had been able to take the bodies away due to the spell that was placed on them - they saw three new bodies. The first one belonged to their queen. The other two were the bodies of the prince’s advisors and confidents. It was as if the citizens hadn’t had to endure enough already.  
Upon further inspection, people quickly found three notes hidden in the pockets of their clothing. 

_They_

_had it_

_coming_

And as the royal staff and the citizens of Darlea were consumed by chaos, panic and fear, a hooded figure observed them, hidden in the shadows. A serene but pained smile graced his pale features as he slowly but surely disappeared in the darkness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The final part of The Shadows In Our Minds. Boy, I’m not ready to let go of this haha. I will probably write one last one shot, to round off the story completely, but I won’t make a full story out of it. I don’t want to wear it out and I like where this will leave off. I’m so not ready for this to end tho. I loved both of these series so much aaah


End file.
